Report on the 2nd Camp held at Nkamlikum: 24 November 2010

The camp started at exactly 3:30pm, even though the board members were present as early as 2:30pm.The one hour delay was due to the late arrival of the concerned youths and also the participation of some in their inter-class competitions.

Present at the institution were the serious and dedicated members that have always been there since we began working with these schools: Brian, Dickson, Nenne, Wallace, Caroline and Ashu. Since we were to work with the same youths we did during the first session, there was no need for us to do any form of registration again. All we did was carry out a roll call of those present, and amongst the sixty seven(67) present last time, seventeen(17) were absent. We also recorded five(5) new youths, making the total number present to fifty five(55).Among those present, twenty nine(29) were boys and twenty six(26)girls and the average age was fifteen(15).

As per the proposal of the US coordinator and with the accord of the board members, we introduced a new topic on "Success" before moving to the warm ups. During this brief discussion which was headed by myself (Brian), Nenne and Ashu in three different groups, we began by trying to find from the youths their definition of success, who they considered successful and why? Many defined or understood success to be the accumulation wealth or living in affluence. They also sited the famous Cameroonian footballer, Samuel Eto'o and some other wealthy individuals in our society as examples of successful individuals. We then made them to understand that success is being the best person that you can be, that you must work hard in order to be considered successful and this usually starts with setting up genuine goals in their daily lives and striving to achieve them. We also made them to understand that as humans, we are all bound to make mistakes and the most important to them should be their ability to learn from these errors and strive to correct them in the future.

After this, we moved on to the warm ups, which comprised light jogging and stretching. From there we moved straight to the football drills, which was made up of the following: juggling of the ball, the red-light, green light dribbling exercise and lastly the inside drag. Here, their application was a little bit slow, even though a few number of them excelled in this exercise, especially the boys.

The session ended with the discussion on the topic "Healthy Relationships". Many of them understood the term relationship to be that of boy-girl or love relationship. We thus had the task to explain to them what a healthy relationship was all the about; it must not always be a love relationship. They understood that it can be the same sex relationship or opposite sex. We pointed out to them that what matters most to define a healthy relationship should be mutual respect and concern for each other as humans, the ability to respect another's wishes, and most importantly that sex is not a parameter to define a relationship. Here it should be noted that the youths actively participated in this discussions. They had so many questions and doubts and we did our best to clarify them. Also worth noting is that Nenne, Caroline, and Dickson took over the command at this stage, while the others assisted them. I will also like to note the active participation of the sports master of this institution. He aided in the drills so much, for he is a trained sports instructor with more than three years experience in the field. More to this, he told us that he finds our package very rich and resourceful to the youths.

We shall continue with activities at Kosala next Wednesday.

Cheers,

Aminkeng Brian

Project Manager of After School Sessions, Cameroon Football Development Program

Mother-baby HIV box to help halt transmission

It's no great medical breakthrough, just a simple colour-coded box packed with HIV drugs and pictures, but its backers UNICEF hope it may help finally end transmission of the often deadly virus to babies.

The mother-baby pack, dubbed "innovation for an HIV-free generation" will be distributed to 30,000 pregnant women in Kenya, Cameroon, Lesotho and Zambia starting from this month.

It contains all the medicines and instructions needed to protect an HIV-infected mother and her newborn, even if she never visits a health clinic again until after the baby is born, and even if she can't read properly.

"We don't need any scientific breakthroughs or new technology to tackle this problem," said Jimmy Kolker, head of HIV and AIDS at the United Nations children's fund (UNICEF). "What we need is a way to empower women to take charge of their own care."

Evidence in developed countries, where there is now virtually no transmission of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that causes AIDS from mothers to their babies, shows that, as Kolker says, all the medicines and healthcare knowledge are already there to halt it worldwide.

It is the logistics of getting the right drugs to the right people at the right time that is proving the biggest barrier in poorer countries to eliminating mother-to-child HIV transmission - a goal the United Nations has said it wants to reach by 2015.

"In the developed world, there are now very few babies born HIV positive, but in Africa there are still over 1,000 born every day," Kolker told Reuters in an interview.

More than 50 percent of HIV-positive women in sub-Saharan Africa in 2008 did not get the drugs they needed to prevent transmission of the virus to their children, according to data from the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).

The World Health Organisation says an estimated 430,000 children were newly infected with HIV in 2008, the vast majority of them through mother-to-child transmission. Yet this kind of spread of the disease is almost entirely preventable where the right services are available.

Children born with HIV face lifelong disease and, if they're lucky, lifelong medication. In Africa at least half of them will live beyond their second birthdays without medical intervention.

"We're still missing a lot of mothers because they don't come back to the clinics, or because the clinics are short of drug supplies, or because the mothers don't take the drugs when they're supposed to," said Kolker.

At around $70 per box, the mother-baby pack costs less than half of what it would take to give even a year of drug treatment to an HIV positive baby, UNICEF says.

"It's cost-effective from every point of view," said Kolker. "It's something that can be done at a village level and followed up by a community health worker or mothers group. It doesn't need a nurse or doctor to follow through."

The idea is also that the pack will simplify the procurement, ordering and distribution of drugs and healthcare since it is a one-stop-shop, with a complete course of medicines and instructions to halt mother-to-child HIV transmission.

The pack is divided into three sections of blue for drugs to be taken during pregnancy, yellow for medicines needed during labour and delivery and pink for drugs needed for mother and baby after delivery.

The colour-coding and a series of simple pictures are designed to help women with low levels of literacy understand when and in what doses to take the medicines.

UNICEF's $8.0 million pilot project in the first four countries is planned in three phases, with around 30,000 packs to be distributed in each phase to reach almost 100,000 women by the middle of 2011.

If it proves successful, Kolker said UNICEF plans to scale the project up in these countries and widen it to include more.

"We don't want to do this without being really sure that it works," he said. "But one of the things that is most promising about this project is that there are already a number of countries who want to be next in line."

Reuters

Self-Assessment for Growth

Youth stand with CFDP Leaders after the first session at GSS Nkalikum

Emails from Kumba continue to prove the dedication of local individuals on the ground – making this happen…

16 November 2010

K-man – These are the pictures of the camps held at Nkamlikum and GBHS Kosala. I want to inform you that the session of tomorrow will not take place because of the public holidays here. Late this evening, it was announced over the national radio that tomorrow is a public holiday because of feast of Ramadan. So no schools or work throughout the national territory.

…

18 November 2010

Hi K-man,

Once again it is nice reading from you about all the efforts you are putting over that way, to see that CFDP becomes a success tomorrow. Know that each time you send an email I make sure we share the contents with every board member and they have all been appreciative and thankful of what you have been doing.

Since we had no session yesterday, we decided to hold an evaluation meeting. It was to evaluate our last two sessions, our performances, some shortcomings and what we can improve upon. So far, the meeting went well and we were able to identify some shortcomings on our part and pledged to work harder, for the success of CFDP back here lies on our shoulders. Nenne will get the full minutes ready for you when she develops them. Bye man.

Brian.

Rain no go disturb CFDP!

Emails like this one below are what it's all about. Again, this one comes from Brian – unedited – in response to a lesson entitled "Success" which I passed along from a good friend, Tony Everett, founder of PureGame. PureGame is a Los Angeles – based soccer program focused on empowering urban youth by combining character development and community building with a unique approach to the game. We hope to see something like this in Pittsburgh in the future! But for now…Cameroon - o

 

Greetings K-man,i think your suggestions are ok.I find it interesting, very educative to the youths and i believe they will like it.Unfortunately we were not able to hold our weekly meetings as usual yesterday because of the heavy downpour.We will try as much as possible to hold it today if the weather gives us green light.It rained for close to 5hours yesterday,as from 2pm Cameroon time to 6:30pm.

Have already printed and photocopied the new suggestion into eight (08)copies so that each member should be able to have a copy when next we meet and master it,before our next session at Nkamlikum.Just to add that since our last session at Nkamlikum,many students have met me on the way and each time they want to know when we will be coming back to their school.Each time i hear this from them,i feel happy to know that we are already making an impact.

Brian

Week 2 After-School Session Continues Early Success

Below you find another detailed report from the second afterschool session of CFDP. The sessions were organized, designed, and implemented by the CFDP Team in Cameroon. The information below is provided by the After-school Project Manager, Aminkeng Brian. This report comes to you in his own words; his reaction to the activities of CFDP as they happened before his own eyes.

This is the report on the camp that took place on Wednesday Nov 10, 2010 at Government Bilingual High School Kosala:

We got started at precisely 3:30pm Cameroon Time (6 hours ahead EST). We arrived at the venue a bit late due to poor weather and slippery nature of the road leading to the institution.

CFDP Leaders present were Aminkeng Brian, Diba Dickson, Ngoe Wallace, Akom Caroline, Myango Mukoi Nenne, and Ashu.

Number of Youth Present was 11 girls, 40 boys; 51 total

Warm-up: The jogging exercise lasted for about 10 minutes and during this exercise divided into two groups. We emphasized to youths the importance of warm-ups to a footballer before entering a pitch (to avoid cramps and relax the muscles). After that we moved straight to our traditional ice breaking.

To the football drills: Here contrary to our last week session at Nkamlikum, we increased the number of drills because of their technical knowhow and application to it. Here we discovered that most of the youths, especially the boys could do these exercises freely, but when it came to the girls they had difficulties. Also during the short passes, we emphasized to them the necessity to be focused when giving a pass to your partner. Here we likened the situation to their lives; they have to be focused and not hurry in whatever they do, for it is necessary to be composed in life.

The juggling of the ball was the initiative of the sports teacher, who emphasized that a good footballer must always know how juggle the ball. The exercises lasted for close to 50 minutes and then it was time for the discussion.

During the discussion, which we did while seated, we talked on adolescence. The youths were divided into three groups, with two CFDP Leaders per group. Dickson, Nenne, and Caroline led the discussions, while the rest where supporting. Questions were asked on what they understood by adolescence, the age limit and characteristics. Many of them supplied interesting answers and when we started discussing in detail with them about the topic. It aroused their attention so much. They found the topic so interesting so much that at the end of the session, they were still asking questions

Comments (abridged):

It should be noted that the poor turn out was due to the fact that most of the youths were involved in their inter-class competitions in football, handball and volleyball. Thus making it difficult for us to have a good number of the students, since both boys and girls were busy cheering their respective teams. Notwithstanding, we still had the attention of the present fifty one students.

Their general participation was really encouraging and a form of morale booster for us to continue working with them in the future.

Play-by-Play from the First CFDP After-School Session in Cameroon

Again – Straight Outta Cameroon – This email was sent earlier this week from The Main Man, Aminkeng Brian:

Sorry about the delayance in getting the report across to you. It is because of the electricity and internet failure. All the same…

This is the report on the camp that took place on Wednesday Nov 03 2010 at Government Secondary School Nkamlikum.

Start time: 2:30pm Cameroon Time (6 hours ahead EST)

No. CFDP Leaders: Six

Youth: 40 girls; 27 boys

Ages: 12 to 17, average age being 16

Warm-up: Immediately after the registration, we did the normal jogging and then later on went straight to the ice breaking exercise. This was very fast because the students already knew themselves.

Topic: As decided during our last board meeting,we elaborated so much on Adolescence,not failing to talk briefly on healthy relationship.Promising to come back to the healthy relationship topic when next we meet them again.

Football Drills: Later on we began with the passing of the ball and we made sure we emphasised on them to try as much as possible to to make their passes precise and short. Then we moved on to the controlling or dribbling of the ball between the cones, asking them to use both legs. And later on we ended with chest control of the ball. These exercises were mostly coordinated with by Brian, Wallace and Richard, while Dickson, Caroline and Nenne were busy preparing for the discussions.

Comments (abridged):

At the begining,the youths had difficulties grasping the football drills,but after insistence and further demonstration on our part,the guys picked up pretty well.As for the girls,they had difficulties in grasping or easily doing the exercise. In a nutshell,the general participation of the youths during the discussions and through out the camp was very encouraging.

I will like to point out that all these would not have have been possible without the collaboration and support of the sports master of the institution Mr Penda, who made sure that before our arrival he had published a list of the students for the session on the school notice board. This week we will be moving over to Government Bilingual High School Kosala and we intend on repeating the same exercise we did at GSS Nkamlikum there, with the collaboration of the sports master Mr. Mbianke.

Email Straight Outta Africa!

The following email was sent by on November 4^th, the day after the first CFDP after-school session was held at Government Secondary School Nkamlikum in Kumba (our home base). Cameroon Coordinator, Mr. Ngwane Peter is a literature teacher for a government school in Nkambe, Cameroon. Nkambe is located in the Northwest Region, a few hours' drive from Kumba (located in the Southwest Region). The two are the only English-speaking regions in the Francophone-dominated country. His frustrations with the internet derive from the unfinished emails which preceded this one, undoubtedly the result of power and/or electricity outages. Anyone over there will tell you simply – "That's Africa." K-Man, short for "Kumba Man", is a nickname I picked up in 2006, my second year in Cameroon. Sure beats "white man" which many children (and even some adults) shout at Westerns as they pass! More information to follow… Aminkeng Brian, who is overseeing operations in Peter's absence, is preparing a detailed report of the occasion. He was previously unemployed.

4 Nov. 2010

Dear K MAN

You can't just understand how frustrating it is to use the net here in Nkambe. I wrote to inform you that the weekly session have commence successfully and the turn out is so amazing. Actually I read through you mail and I just want to let you know that all the recommendations you made concerning the topics and the football drills have already been taken into consideration.

The first topic that was treated yesterday was Adolescence and the participation was good as I got reports from Kumba.

Please do all to get to me preferably over the phone and I will really want you to make sure you send money to the guys in Kumba so that all can go well.

I am looking forward to hear from you and Best of Luck. Missing you so much. Peace

With Love Peter

FYI – Money was sent.

Cameroon hopes Brazil project will boost cocoa output

Cameroon plans to use genetically modified seedlings developed in Brazil in an effort to more than double its cocoa production by 2015, according to the central African nation's cocoa development body SODECAO.

The world's fifth-largest supplier of the main ingredient in chocolate officially produced just under 200,000 tonnes during the 2009-10 season which ended in July, down from 205,000 tonnes in the previous season.
"I foresee a very bright future for the cocoa sub-sector in Cameroon given people's renewed interest, increasing support from the government and high prices on the world market," SODECAO General Manager Jerome Mvondo told a press conference.

"And with Biofabrica, l believe we can raise production to about 400,000-500,000 tonnes by 2015."

Cameroon will cultivate 20 million disease-resistant, high-yield "Biofabrica" seedlings during the 2010-11 season as part of a $10 million project with the Brazilian state, which developed the variety in the 1990s to combat an outbreak of a fungal disease called Witch's Broom that had halved the crop.

An official with Brazil's executive commission for cocoa, Ceplac, told Cameroon state radio over the weekend the variety takes two to three years to start producing, yields 1-2 tonnes per hectare, and is disease resistant.

Yields in Cameroon currently average 200-300 kg per hectare.

Cameroon is also increasing its use of locally-developed genetically modified cocoa strands, Mvondo said.

The world's No. 1 and No. 2 producers, Ivory Coast and Ghana, have also said they are hoping to raise cocoa production in the coming years.

The West Coast of Africa accounts for about two-thirds of world cocoa production, and disappointing output last year helped drive world cocoa prices to 30-year highs.

Reuters